Security forces have recovered 711 barrel grenade launcher shells from Maoist hideouts near Karregutta Hills in Bijapur on Thursday. As a result, authorities have issued a public warning and are planning a demining operation because unexploded ordnance may still be present.
A joint task force of the Bijapur district police, the 196th CRPF, and the 204th battalion of the elite CoBRA commandos conducted the search based on specific intelligence. The search area was the dense forest which surrounds the FOB at Tadapalla village in the Usur police station area. The shells were found in a fairly concealed manner about 1.5km northwest of the base, in the hills that were part of the old Maoist stronghold along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border. The ammunition was secured in the normal way for an explosive cache. The amount of ammunition dealt a major blow to the Maoists” logistical capability. BGL rounds can fire grenades that cause significant damage in an ambush or attack on a security post.
“Civilians are to avoid all access to K.” Civilians must avoid all access to Karregutta and the surrounding hills as IEDs and other explosives cannot be ruled out. A demining operation will be carried out as part of a planned exercise,” a police official said. The restriction will remain until the area is fully cleared. The continuing threat posed by unexploded ordnance and buried devices from the years of insurgency remains, even after the major clearances.
In April-May 2025, security forces conducted a 21-day operation in the thick forests around the same hills. It was one of the biggest operations in the area and resulted in at least 31 Maoists killed and several bunkers and hideouts destroyed. The operation targeted a key sanctuary and logistics base for the senior cadre.
Security forces established a new camp in the area in Nov 2025 to consolidate control and support ongoing domination and clearance operations. The recent discovery of hundreds of shells in the hills shows how caches can be hidden even after fighting has effectively ceased.
Chhattisgarh was declared free of armed Maoists on 31st March 2026. Since then, the focus has been on systematic demining across former LWE-affected districts of Bastar, targeting roads, tracks, and forest tracts. Hundreds of IEDs are still believed to be in the ground, planted over years to target patrols and civilian movement. The CRPF leads the demining operation with several battalions equipped for bomb detection and disposal, working with state police.
Thursday’s recovery is part of the wider post-clearance phase. Intelligence-led searches will continue to find residual stocks as large-scale demining takes place, aiming to make the terrain safe for unrestricted civilian and developmental use. Although the armed presence is gone, the physical remnants of the conflict still need phased removal until the scheduled demining operation is finished and the area is confirmed as safe.